PRESS AND EMPIRE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1909, Page 7

PRESS AND EMPIRE.

SIGNS OF THE TiMES. GROUND FOR ANXIETY, BUT NOT PANIC. LONDON, 10th June. Following is an extended report of the proceedings at the second day's discussion on "Ihe Press and the Empire," at which the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, Leader of the Opposition, presided. In the course of his opening address, Mr. Balfour said: — "The fate of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and India will not be decided in the Pacific, nor in the Indian Ocean, but in the Northern Hemisphere. Everybody who reads the signs of the times must agree- with Lord Rosebery's and Sir Edward drey's weighty words, and must recognise the impossibility of looking at the subject of Imperial defence without anxiety, though there is no ground for panic." Mr. J. S. Brierley, manager of the Montreal Herald, declared that if danger threatened the Empire, Canada would be prepared to spend her latt cent, and give the last drop of her blood to prevent a catastrophe. The results of this conference would not be found in minute books, but in increased interest in Imperial matfcerfc. ' MR. HALDANE'S MILITARY SCHEMES. Tho Right Hon. R. B. Haldane, Secretary of State for War, said he agreed with every word that had fallen from Mr. Ualfour's lips. He urged the colonies to organise their fortes and interest themselves in their own necessities ; but they t-hould remember the possible need of co-operation by all parts of tho Empire. At the present time difficulties were arising which were not accidental, but were the result of other nations becoming more wealthy and powerful. However, he still believed the British Empire.- mtc of progress wub greater than that oL any other raco. Reierring to military matters, Mr. Haldane advocated the acceptance of his scheme for the creation of a General Stall' in touch with the stalls ol the colonies. COLONIAL PATRIOTISM. Mir. George Fcuv.iek, managing director of the (Jlago Daily Timet, Dunedin, paid the speeches of Ministers and exMinisters whom di'lc>ales had heard thia week 'hatl made the conference uae that would be li lt toi it . The editors- had leccived much inspiration on many pointb. The sponl.meou.- oiler of New Zealand's Dreadnought was not to be measured by its cost : it was a demonstration of partriotic feeling which would help forward all the Empire. Mr. Fenjvick depreca-

ted the ' disapproving action ot Canada and Australia, and their decision to provide only for their own defence. All must recogniscl how inadequate local prevision must be. The safety of the oversea Dominions lay in the maintenance of a great Imperial Navy ; therefore he urged the press to support it. STEPPING-STONES TO A NAVY. Mr. E. S. Cunningham, editor of the Melbourne Argus, pointed out thai, it was impossible to get Australians to realise that their first efforts must be wholly directed to the Imperial Navy. They should be suliiciently interested in their own defence to think of £> navy. .Even if it were only a local navy that would be a stepping-stone to an Imperial Navy. He thought Australia- had been treated indulgently in the past, and that was the secret of the wave of enthusiasm which had resulted in the recent offers by New Zealand and the Commonwealth to provide a battleship each. Mr. Cunningham said he wes delighted that the new Federal Government had adopted the ' people's wishes. Australia, Mr. Cunningham declared, was. not yet ready to adopt the principle of universal training, since it involved many problems, and he doubted the wisdom of attempting to force it at* the present stage. "FORETHOUGHT AND PREPARATION." Field-Marshal Lord Roberts contended that the chief danger to England lay in the fact that she had enjoyed so long the supremacy of the seas that her security on land was apt to be regarded as a fixed condition. He believed a new era had commenced that "might require the whole Empire to justify its existence. Nothing but forethought and preparation can make us reliable in a, great emergency." A MOTION WITHDRAWN. The Hon. Theodore Fink, director of the Melbourne Herald, moved a resolution in favour of universal training. The Commonwealth's latest offer, he said, was not intended to interfere with provision for local defence, which should be subordinate to Imperial needs. He believed it' was Australia's desire that tha nation's manhood should be trained ( in the use of arms, so that if an emergency arose her forces could be organised into an efficient military unit. ; Mr. Mark Cohen, editor of the Dun- j edin Evening Star, seconded the motion, j He pointed out that the colonies spent large sums of money on education, and continued : "Surely it is lightful that they should ask for some return for that expenditure for the purposes of defence, after the words of warning that have fallen from Lord Roberts and the statesmen before this conference, unless we take further notice of armchair critics ■who dread compulsion." Mr. Cohen advised that Lord Roberts should be sent as a missionary of Empire, to urge the importance of military training. Several speakers raised objection to the resolution, as' 1 being outside the objects of the meeting, and it was eventually withdrawn. DECISIONS OM IMPORTANT ISSUES. Mr. James I. Fairfax, of the Sydney Mofning Herald proprietary, said that if the forces overseas undertook an important share in Imperial defence some steps should be required to give them a share in tho guidance of those forces. Further questions might aiise j respecting a share in decisions upon , peace or war. Though he was himself ' not a militant federationist, he consider- j ed the points he had touched ought not | to pass unheeded. Lord Pioberts announced that if the Hon. T. Fink's lesolution had oeen adopted he would have supported it, j because he vas convinced that the voluntary system had utterly failc'i, and modern warfare required good training.